1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cassette loading apparatus and, more particularly, to a cassette loading apparatus, used for a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus such as a video tape recorder (to be referred to as a VTR hereinafter), for driving a tape cassette in a substantially horizontal state and loading it to a tape driving portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cassette loading apparatus used for a recent VTR is generally designed such that when a tape cassette is inserted in the cassette holder in a substantially horizontal state, the front loading mechanism is operated to move the cassette holder to a position above the tape driving portion, and the tape cassette, which is lowered and held, is loaded to the tape driving portion. In this case, the cassette cover of the tape cassette is opened, and the tape extract members of the tape loading mechanism are moved inside the tape. In this state, the tape loading mechanism is driven to perform tape loading.
In ejection of the tape cassette, an unloading operation is performed to move the cassette out of the cassette holder by performing a reverse operation to the above-described loading operation.
FIG. 14 shows such a conventional cassette loading apparatus. A first switch 3 for detecting a cassette is arranged on a cassette holder 2 in which a tape cassette 1 is inserted. Upon insertion of the tape cassette 1 into the cassette holder 2, the first switch 3 detects this insertion and drives a front loading mechanism 4 so as to move the cassette holder 2 to a tape driving position indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 14. When the cassette holder 2 reaches the tape driving position, a second switch 5 for detecting cassette loading, which is arranged to correspond to the tape driving position, detects this and stops the front loading mechanism 4. At the same time, the second switch 5 drives/controls a tape loading mechanism (not shown) so as to perform tape loading. In contrast to this, when an ejecting operation is performed to eject the tape cassette 1 from the tape driving position, the front loading mechanism 4 is reversed to unload the cassette holder 2 from the tape driving position to an ejecting position where the cassette can be removed. In this case, the cassette holder 2 drives a third switch 6 for detecting ejection. With this operation, the front loading mechanism 4 is stopped, and the ejecting operation is completed.
In the above-described cassette loading apparatus, however, the first to third switches 3, 5, and 6 are used to drive and control the cassette holder 2. Therefore, the first to third switches 3, 5, and 6 are arranged at predetermined positions, and wiring between the switches must be performed. Assembly and mounting steps including this wiring operation become very cumbersome.
As described above, since the conventional cassette loading apparatus uses three detecting switches so as to drive and control the cassette holder, assembly and mounting steps including a wiring operation become very cumbersome. This leads to problems such as an increase in cost and degradation in reliability.